


Of Radiators and Heart Palpitations

by kaijoskopycat



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mechanics, Doctor Midorima, Fluff, Pre-Relationship, mechanic takao, v things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2015-02-01
Packaged: 2018-03-09 23:57:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3269054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaijoskopycat/pseuds/kaijoskopycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It has to be luck that brings him to Takao's garage when his car is smoking like a chimney. Either Oha Asa is playing match maker or Midorima really is just one lucky guy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Radiators and Heart Palpitations

**Author's Note:**

> Rare midotaka. I felt the need to add some midotaka after seeing the beginning of the Shutoku vs. Rakuzan game. They're just too badass together.
> 
> -v

Someone should have told him his radiator had a coolant leak. 

Midorima knew next to nothing about cars. When steam began to leak out from underneath the hood it reminded him of the small wooden train he was carrying with him as his lucky item and for a moment he forgot that cars are not trains and they shouldn't be smoking. He thought he might be able to make it to the next town as long as the smoke remained gray and didn't turn black, but then a warning light flashed on the dashboard and his car started to chime louder and louder until he had no choice but to pull into the nearest parking lot.

If he didn't have his lucky item with him he'd think it was dumb luck and not Oha Asa that brought him into the lot of a repair shop. He inched his car to a stop in front of the garage door and grabbed his toy train off the dashboard. 

Hawkeye Mechanics looked like a Ma and Pop repair shop and, with his sizable doctor income, Midorima had no doubt that he'd be able to afford the repair and quite possibly offer incentive to finish the job before anything else they had in the shop. He smoothed his free hand down the front of his shirt and slowly made his way inside. 

There was no one at the desk. Even when he rang the bell, there was no answer. The door from the waiting room that led into the garage was propped open and, when he paused to listen closely, he could hear music and the distinct sound of someone singing along. He glanced at the desk with a frown, debating on ringing the bell again before he turned and headed through the door. 

There were three cars on lifts in the garage and one parked on the far end that appeared to be in a state of half-finished refurbishment. Midorima scanned the room, but found nobody to pair with the voice he could hear. He took a few more tentative steps inside, carefully avoiding the stains that littered the floor and the tools carelessly thrown about. He found the radio sitting on an abandoned table in the middle of the garage and reached forward to turn the dial, effectively silencing the music. 

"OI!"

Midorima whipped his head around when he heard a resounding thud. A young man stood beside the car he had just walked past and Midorima vaguely wondered if he dropped from the ceiling or if he had been there the whole time.

"Why'd you turn that off? That was my favorite song!" There was a very noticeable difference in their heights, Midorima noted, being considerably taller, but this man carried himself with almost as much confidence, if not more. He didn't seem to care that he was covered in stains from head to toe. His tight, white v-neck clung to his body from the sweat that coated his skin. His jeans had more holes than a whack-a-mole game and Midorima's eyes were drawn to every inch of exposed skin despite his poor attempts as directing his gaze elsewhere. There was a subtle definition to his muscles that even Midorima couldn't deny an attraction to and his dark hair clung to the sides of his face and hung in loose strands over his striking silver eyes. But the thing that really caught Midorima's eye was the chain around his neck. On the end was train pendant. It was Midorima's lucky item.

Pushing his glasses up the brim of his nose, Midorima scoffed. "Britney Spears is your favorite, nanodayo?"

"Hey," The man pointed at him. "Don't diss my girl Britney. Baby One More Time is still my jam."

Midorima rolled his eyes and took a step forward, gesturing toward the car ahead. "You're the mechanic, I presume."

The man stepped forward and offered a greasy hand before thinking twice about the handshake. "The names Takao. Takao Kazunari." He flung his arms out and spun, gesturing wildly to the entirety of the garage. "This is my place. I'm the owner, the mechanic, the desk boy, the office clerk. You name the job title and I've got it."

"Midorima Shintarou," Midorima replied. "Mechanic is the only title I care about, nanodayo." He glanced behind him to the garage doors where his car was parked just outside. "My car is smoking. I don't know why. It was fine only moments ago and then..."

"Ah, smoking?" Takao walked past Midorima and kicked the base of one of the large garage doors. It creaked and groaned but slowly rolled upward to reveal Midorima's car. Takao let loose a low, appreciative whistle. "Is this the newest Lacrosse? You must've spent a pretty penny on this baby. Buick's don't come cheap."

Midorima huffed and walked over to his car, opening the door to reach into the driver's side to pop the hood. "I'd rather not discuss what I paid for my car, nanodayo. I just need it fixed and I need it fixed now."

"So demanding," Takao chuckled as he walked out of the garage and stood in front of the Buick. He reached forward, pausing to glance at Midorima who nodded his permission to continue. He braced his hands against the edge of the hood and leaned in, his body stretching across the engine to examine every inch of the inner workings. 

Midorima couldn't stop his eyes from wandering down the curve of Takao's back, stopping at the thin line of revealed skin just above the waist of his jeans as his shirt rode up his back.

"Looks like you've got a coolant leak." Takao waved him over and tapped on a piece of equipment that looked far too expensive to Midorima to be an easy repair. "This is the radiator. I don't know if you can tell from here, but this orange stuff that's seeping out is the coolant. You're probably so low that your car is literally running on steam."

Midorima took a step back and glanced at his watch. He had a few hours until he had to be at the hospital, though judging from his surroundings he was still almost an hour out. He pulled out his cell phone and tapped a number in, pausing before he dialed to ask, "How long will it take to repair?"

Takao pulled his eyes away from the radiator. "Depends on what you want me to do." He flicked the latch and caught the hood of the car as started to fall, putting it back into place carefully. "I can refill the coolant, but that's a super temporary fix and you'll probably start steaming in another half hour or so. Or I can solder the leak, which could take me about an hour, maybe a little more. That depends on how bad the leak ends up being and how well your radiator takes to the soldering."

He couldn't risk stopping again so he had to rule out the first option by default. His luck might be spent with this stop and he wasn't about to test Oha Aha's patience by trying his luck again. "Those are my only options?"

"Well," Takao offered a sheepish smile and shrugged. "Or I could completely replace your radiator, but that would take a few days."

Midorima scowled and shook his head. "I will take my chances with the soldering, nanodayo."

With a nod of his head, Takao made his way back into the garage, calling over his shoulder, "You can drive the car into the last door to your left. I'll kick it open."

When his car was safely inside the garage, and the smoke had stopped fuming from beneath the hood, Takao pulled out all the necessary tools and rolled under the car to have better access to the radiator leak. He had turned the music back on and, much to Midorima's chagrin, had more Britney Spears playing throughout the garage. 

"Can't you listen to something else?" Midorima griped as he sat in the desk chair Takao had wheeled over for him.

"My garage, my choice in music," Takao called back to him. "Besides, I bet you know the words to these too and you just don't wanna admit it, Shin-chan."

Midorima nearly fell out of his seat. "What did you call me?" No one used his first name besides his closest relatives and he had never been given a nickname before, especially by someone he had only just met.

"Shin-chan!" Takao shouted. "It's a good nickname. I like it. I'm gonna call you that."

With a sigh, Midorima readjusted himself in the seat and fiddled with his toy train. He ran his thumb under the wheels watching the way they spun. Then he remembered seeing another train and, in a rare bout of curiosity, he said, "Is there a reason you're wearing a train around your neck?"

There were a few clanks and a hissing sound in response to Midorima's question and he thought he might not have been heard. As he opened his mouth to repeat the question, Takao said, "Oh, the necklace? It was a gift from my dad. He used to be a train conductor and he brought me home all kinds of railroad toys and stuff. This was my favorite though because I could keep it with me where ever I go."

"Your father is a train conductor?"

"Was," Takao corrected. "He passed away a few years ago."

Midorima fell silent and he gripped the toy train a little harder. "Ah, I'm sorry for broaching a sensitive topic, nanodayo."

"Ehhh?" Takao's confusion echoed over the hissing sound of his soldering. "It's not a sensitive topic anymore, silly. Death is a part of life and I never would've been able to live mine if it weren't for him him. He wouldn't want me moping anyway. Besides, he's tooting train horns elsewhere right now and probably having the time of his afterlife." Takao chuckled softly, barely loud enough for Midorima to hear. "I don't like to dwell on what was. I like to think about what is and what I can make of it. My dad gave me this life and he gave me the money to start this shop. I'm going to make what I can of what I was given and give dad a reason to be proud of the person he raised me to be."

If Midorima would have truly analyzed the things that happened to his heart after Takao's little speech, he would have been convinced that he was having heart palpitations and he would have run some tests on himself to check for abnormalities. But it was because he was a doctor that he knew there was nothing abnormal about the way his heart was racing. There was nothing abnormal about the heat that rose to his cheeks or the way his breath caught in his throat when he tried to speak. It wasn't an illness that he'd caught. 

Was this something like _love_?

Takao finished repairing his radiator quicker than Midorima expected he would and, after a quick inspection of the handiwork, he paid Takao for his time and offered an ample tip for taking him on such short notice.

Despite his earlier complaint about having somewhere to be, Midorima lingered. He asked Takao about the cars he was currently working on, wanting to know if his repair had inconvenienced him and the other work he had lined up. He listened to Takao prattle on about the squirrel that continuously tried to climb under the hoods of his cars and chew up the wiring. Takao had no off switch and Midorima had no intention of installing one. 

"Hey, Shin-chan," Takao finally said, tapping Midorima on the back of his hand. "Weren't you supposed to be somewhere?"

Midorima glanced at his watch and found he only had an hour left before his shift began. His lips twitched into a faint scowl. He toyed with the idea of calling in the bluff that his car repairs weren't finished on time, but Takao wore such a look of concern that Midorima found he had no choice but to take his leave. 

As they stood outside the garage, Midorima offered his hand and Takao took it with a grin that knocked the wind out of him. He'd never seen a smile that made his heart skip a beat before.

"It was nice to meet you, Shin-chan!" Takao pulled away and slowly walked backward into his garage. "If you ever need an oil change, I'll give you one free of charge!"

Midorima nodded, unable to respond past the lump that formed in his throat. He stood at the side of his door, hand hovering over the handle. He glanced up to find Takao about to kick the side of the garage door to get it to shut. "Takao."

Takao glanced up. "Shin-chan?"

"Takao, if I don't need an oil change, or a radiator repair, will you still allow me to come and visit your shop? I won't be a nuisance, nanodayo. I promise I'll stay out of the way."

There was a beat of silence during which Midorima started to second guess his previous diagnosis and reconsider those heart tests. Then a grin spread across Takao's face and he nodded. Midorima mirrored the expression with a rare smile of his own.

"Until next time, Shin-chan!"

"Until next time," Midorima opened the door and got into his car. "Kazunari."


End file.
